


The odd girl who smelled the rain

by blue_nebulae



Series: Arya x Gendry Week 2019 [7]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arya X Gendry Week, Arya can't bake, Arya is an odd girl, Arya keeps secrets, Arya teases, Awesome Arya, Awkward Crush, AxG Week, Because I can, Blindness, Character Death, Crushes, Crying, Death, Drunk Calling, Drunk calls, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Freeform, Gendry is amazed, Gendry is hopeless, Gendry wants to discover her secrets, Gendry watches her a lot, Gendrya - Freeform, Gendrya Freeform, Gendrya Week, Grief/Mourning, Hospitals, Loss, Pairs, Parties, Prom, Prompt Fic, Rain, Sansa is always worried, School Project, Secret Crush, Senses, Sickness, They walk together a lot, Touching, Touchy-Feely, Umbrella, Walking, a bit of angst, college students, it rains a lot, the weather forecast is never right, touches, volunteering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2020-09-23 23:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20348866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_nebulae/pseuds/blue_nebulae
Summary: Written for Arya x Gendry Week Day 7 : "Because I can".Gendry noticed her the very first week of the semester.Something about her caught his eye, he didn’t know exactly what it was, perhaps the fact that she was a very pretty short girl or the fact that she was carrying a bright yellow umbrella, and using it almost like a cane, on a perfect summery day and that was odd.





	1. Chapter 1

Gendry noticed her the very first week of the semester.

She entered the room walking fast even when she was just on time. She looked young, probably a first year. Something about her caught his eye, he didn’t know exactly what it was, perhaps the fact that she was a very pretty short girl or the fact that she was carrying a bright yellow umbrella, and using it almost like a cane, on a perfect summery day and that was odd.

He was looking at her when the professor entered the room and his focus went to what this class about Bravos history was.

-

He was walking to the design workshop when he saw her again. She was sitting alone, resting against a tree, a book opened on her lap and her palms on it, her finger tips touching the pages but her eyes not looking, she was looking at nothing. What an odd girl Gendry thought.

-

At lunch time he saw her again, she was still carrying that umbrella and she had a bright a paint smear on her face and another on her jeans “Can I sit here?” she asked him, he was all alone at his table having lunch and sketching an idea he had for a freelance design work he had to deliver in a few weeks.

“yeah” she was sitting down even before he had answered, but he went back to sketch. It was completely normal for people to sit on empty seats available in the cafeteria.

“You were in one of my classes, weren’t you?” she said as she ate “Bravos art history”

“Probably” he shrugged, not wanting to admit he had taken notice of her.

“You were” the girl reassured and kept eating “8am, professor Forel”

“Then, yeah”

“Saw you looking” she shrugged and that was the end of their conversation. After a while, she gathered her stuff, picked up her tray and went away “Name is Arya, thanks for the seat!” and she was a little odd. Really, what an odd girl.

When he was exiting the cafeteria he noticed the grey clouds in the sky. The weather forecast didn’t say anything about rain, he wondered for a moment how that girl, Arya, knew to bring an umbrella.

-

He kept seeing her around campus all the time, he would just turn around and there she was. It wasn’t as if he was looking for her, she just happened to be in his field of view and he couldn’t help but look at her. She was in his Bravos Art History, two times a week, an elective he took to complete the semester credits and because it seemed interesting, he enjoyed art history and Bravos had an amazing design of pottery and sculpting. She was usually with books that she only touched and never read.

Sometimes she would catch him looking at her, he would avert his eyes quickly but sometimes he thinks he saw her smirking. Sometimes he would catch her looking at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read.

And that was how he started noticing things about her, like she would drag her fingers to get things on her desk, feeling them with her finger tips and never looking away from the board. She would use her hands and never look into her backpack when reaching out for her books as if she was using the feel of her finger tips to identify every single item in her bag. It was unusual and always interesting to watch, how she seems to rely on her touch to do stuff.

If they crossed paths in campus, outside their shared class, she would wave at him sometimes or nod at him. It was as if she had decided, one sided on her part, that they were some sort of acquaintances.

She really was an odd girl and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

-

He found himself at a party one time. His friend Anguy convinced him to go to a party of a friend of his, a girl named Margaery from the business faculty. He didn’t know much people, but he was in the mood to hang with some of his friends and have a beer. It was a nice townhouse close to campus, a fancy one, probably owned by some posh girl. The place was packed with people, mostly girls that seemed to be a little on the wealthy side and guys trying to hook up with them.

He wasn’t in the mood to go around and meet some girl so he just stayed with his group of friends.

He was laughing at something Lem had said when he saw her entering, she was dressed in well-worn band t-shirt, shorts and boots, most girls here were in low cut shirts or skinny jeans and heels so it made her stood out from the other attendees. For once her hair was loose, the ends touching her shoulders free from the ponytail she’d usually sport to class. She was approached by a tall red haired girl that seemed very happy to see her there, then she was dragged somewhere and he lost sight of her for a while.

He later saw her, the red head girl was hugging her and seemed to be introducing her to some guy, a blond guy who seemed chatty. Arya looked bored out of her mind, but hugged the red head, nonetheless. Something about that blond fellow didn’t sit well with him, he decided to just ignore it though at one moment he wondered if perhaps he could go and greet the girl and save her from her boredom, after all they kind of knew each other but he thought better of it and decided not to.

Time passed and he had drunk three beers and one shot round when he felt ready to go home and sleep, it was still pretty early and just past midnight. He had a weekend afternoon shift at the car repair shop he worked at and he didn’t feel like being hangover during work and he just wanted to sleep in on Saturday morning. He had had a good time with his friends and had relaxed a bit after days of class. It had been nice but he just wanted his head to hit the pillow.

He ran into her as she was putting on her jacket by the front door, nodding at her in a greeting sort. There were no signs of the red haired girl nor the blond dude, perhaps she had gotten free of them.

“Leaving early?” she asked him.

“Yeah”

“Saturday class?”

“Work” he corrected. They were outside now, on a street close to campus where most students not in the dorms lived. It was late and dark and a part of him told him he needed to be polite “Do you live close by? Want me to walk you?” he offered.

“aha! So you can say more than one word at a time” she smirked, teased him a bit and he scowled.

“My place is really close by” she shrugged “I can take care of myself, but thanks for the offer, though uhmmm” he realized he had never introduced him, maybe she had reservations about a guy whose name she didn’t know walking her home.

“Name is Gendry. It is late, though…” he didn’t like the idea of her walking alone at night for a reason he couldn’t catch a grip on. Mostly, it wasn’t really safe for anyone to walk alone at night. He had a certain advantage to do so freely, he was taller than most and broadly built thanks to sports and work.

“Well, nice to officially meet you, Gendry!” she turned to the left “I live this way, just a couple of blocks away” he nodded not really knowing what to do “You can walk me home if it makes you feel better” she shrugged as she started walking, he hesitated for a second and went after her.

“Had fun at the party?” Arya asked, looking at him.

“Yeah” and she nodded.

“Saw you laughing with some friends, I wish some of mine had come but they all bailed out. My sister forced me to come to her friend’s party and introduced me to some friends of hers” why was she so talkative? And was her sister also weird?

“so…” she started talking again “What are you majoring in, Gendry?” she seemed curious and in the mood to start a conversation.

“Industrial design” most people didn’t really know what that major was and Gendry didn’t feel like explaining but he was probably going to have to do it.

“Industrial design? Really? That is cool, no wonder you are always sketching. I thought you were an arts major. So bravos art history is an elective for you, right?” she had noticed him sketching? And she apparently knew what industrial design was.

“Yeah, I needed to complete the elective credits and that class seemed interesting” he answered. After a few seconds he decided to keep the conversation going “And you? What are you majoring?”

“History” she answered “I want to minor in art history” he thought she was an arts major from the times she had seen her with paint on her face but decided not to ask because It would tell that he had been watching her.

They kept walking for a moment, she had gone quiet but it was comfortable, almost.

“It is going to rain” she said all of a sudden and he turned to look at her, she started sniffing the air “Probably before the sun rises, bet is going to rain all day”.

“The weather forecast said is going to be a sunny weekend”

“You’ll see” she sounded sure and stopped walking “I live here. Thank you for walking me, Gendry”

“You’re welcome” she was going up the entrance stairs of her building and he was starting to make his way home, he lived a few blocks away, just a three blocks detour if he had walked home from the party directly.

“Gendry!” he turned as she called him “Don’t forget your umbrella on your way to work!” she laughed as she entered her building and he stood there, thinking again that Arya was a really odd girl.

-

It indeed rained the entire day. He woke up to the sound of pouring rain and his shift had ended and he had arrived home at the end of the day rain was still going strong and didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

-

Days after, he was at the university’s gym, at a time he didn’t really tended to go, when he saw her. She was running on the treadmill at a very fast pace without any problem. It seemed that she had been going on for a while as she was covered in sweat, her eyes were closed and her ponytail moving from side to side as she was wearing a very intriguing sports bra and running shorts.

She was tiny and short and at first glance she seemed very skinny but now he could see that her body was toned with strong, yet slim, worked muscles. He stood there looking at her for a moment until he realized that he was being _tha_t creep that looked at girls at the gym, so he shook his head and went to the other side to lift some weights and clear his head.

He spent the day training trying to clear his mind yet his mind was constantly going back to thought about that odd girl and he found himself searching for her with his eyes throughout the gym. He watched her run, lifting weights and when she started to do some stretches he decided to call it a day and went for the showers, he felt like having a cold shower that day.

This was not good.

-

Next day in class she arrived earlier than usual. They were pretty much, apart from a pair of girls, the only ones in the classroom. She entered, still using her yellow umbrella as a cane and tapping the tip of it time to time in a constant rhythm as she walked and sat next to him.

“Hi” she smiled at him, he only nodded.

“You were at the gym yesterday, weren’t you?” her voice was curious, not really holding any anger but he wondered if indeed she had caught him looking at her? He shifted in his seat uncomfortable. He had been a bit creepy, maybe he should apologize.

“Yes”

“Oh. No wonder I felt familiar eyes on me for a moment” she shrugged not sounding angry, at all. He was saved of any further comment as their teacher entered the room in that moment.

Yet his luck wasn’t that great, their professor instructed that their midterm would be an essay and it was group project, groups of two people. He felt the weight of her eyes on him during the announcement.

“What do you say, Gendry? Partners?” she had a playful smile and he felt his neck heating up.

“Sure” Apparently he was destined to be around the odd, yet cute, girl.

They exchanged their schedules and phone numbers. It was difficult, he had shifts at work and she was usually busy on Saturday mornings and was attending college full time. They finally agreed to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays afternoons, Sundays, if needed, and to create and open document in the cloud so both of them could work and check what the other had done.

“Well, see you at the library tomorrow. Bye, Gendry” she waved him goodbye as she left, still tapping the tip of her umbrella against the ground in a two one rhythm as she waked away.

He resigned himself to be near the presence of Arya the entire semester, she was everywhere. He tried not to think about her too much until next day.

They met at the library’s entrance and after a while they were inside a cubicle with a pack of books and trying to define the best way to tackle their essay, setting un the topic they were going to cover and the sources needed.

She was easy to talk to, smart and seemed hard working so he was relieved as he would not have to carry the project on his back alone. They had defined the books needed to start working and separated a private cubicle for the week and decided to call it a day as it was already night time and he wanted to have dinner.

“Hey, if you want we can work on Sundays at my place. I have a few books on Bravos art that we can use and it is far more comfortable than the library and I have coffee” she offered.

“Alright” he sorts of remembered where she lived “I think I remember where you live, it is not far from mine”

They were exiting campus when she started sniffing the air.

“It is going to rain” she lifted her umbrella and opened it, covering both of them “Let’s get cover”.

When he heard the sound the droplets started doing against the umbrella’s surface he opened his eyes wide in surprise. The sky had been clear, completely clear.

“How did you…” she shrugged and he took the umbrella, he was taller so it made more sense he carried it as he walked her home.

“I’ll walk you, it is late” Gendry tried to ignore the grin in her face.

He walked her home and when he offered her umbrella back once they reached her entry, she refused “Take it with you, I don’t want you to get sick. Give it back tomorrow” and with that she was off opening her building’s door.

He walked home carrying the yellow umbrella, he gave it back on Thursday when he got to class.

“Thanks!” she smiled at him and he felt a little bit shocked, a little bit breathless and a little bit stunned.

-

On Saturday morning he went to visit his friend Thoros at the hospital. The guy had gotten surgery recently because he had broken his leg in three places and his clavicle because he stupidly fell while drunk. He was leaving the building when he bumped into someone making them stumble lightly backwards, a short person carrying a big bag and a yellow umbrella.

“I’m sorry.. Arya?”

“Gendry!” she stumbled a bit as she was arranging her bag on her shoulder. She was wearing big goofy glasses and odd colored and baggy mismatched clothing, a bit of a clownish outfit “Fancy seeing you here!” she smiled and he felt again a bit weird but then her smile disappeared quickly, replaced by a worried expression “Oh, this is a hospital so I hope everything is okay…”.

“Came to visit a friend” the only reasons one is at a hospital is if you are sick or visiting someone. She was probably worrying if he had something.

“I hope your friend is okay” she had a sheepish look, as if she was truly worried about Thoros’s wellbeing.

“Broken bones, the idiot fell from a window while drunk” he chuckled softly, shaking his head in disbelief at Thoros’s idiocy.

“Hey! You can laugh…” her voice was low and it showed her surprise and it startled him a bit “Poor guy, my brother once tried to do a backflip while drunk and broke his ankle.”

“ouch” he answered and he didn’t know what else to do or say for a moment as they stood and the hospital’s main entrance.

“You going home or work?” she asked.

“Home. I don’t have a shift today”

“then we’re on the same route” she began walking and he followed, they were walking to the bus stop.

“What about you? Why are you at the hospital?” she looked fine so she must be visiting.

“I volunteer” Arya answered “I volunteer with some people at the cancer children’s wing. I often read for them”

“That sounds nice” IT was indeed nice. A college girl using her Saturday mornings to read for a bunch of kids. He had never met one, or anyone in reality, who volunteered at a children’s hospital. Most people he knew used Saturday mornings to sleep in, being hangover or doing personal errands.

“It is nice. Most of the kids are bored out of their minds, others can’t get out of bed so I read to them. It is nice when someone reads out loud for you, you know? It sorts of lets you travel far away from that hospital bed. We are reading Stephen King novels, so they pretend not to be scared sometimes” she chuckled “we tried to make them laugh and have a good time”.

She sounded proud and happy about what she did and she should be, he thought.

“That is pretty cool, what you are doing, Arya” Gendry rubbed the back of his neck, he wasn’t really good at giving compliments.

“It is nothing” she shrugged. She sounded as if she really believed it, that it wasn’t something remarkable but something ordinary that deserved no especial recognition. She may be right, a good deed was just a good deed and not something that deserved an award.

“Did you just started doing it? Volunteering?” he was curious about it, they were on the bus now.

“No. I started when I came back from living in Bravos while I was still in high school and when I moved here for college I signed up as a volunteer on my first day here”.

“Why did you decided to do it?” this was the most he had talked to her and he was starting to feel a little bit privy.

“Because I can” her answer was simple “It is something so simple but it makes their day. They have fun for a few hours and in that time they are feeling better. The volunteers, we do comedy sketches and bring stuff to play with the little ones. The teens are harder but we try to make them have a good time, some like to learn new things so I download podcasts for them, get them books and stuff”.

“That is pretty remarkable” he had never thought about doing volunteering work. Perhaps he should one day help with something in his free time, though he didn’t have much of it.

“It is not; I think is what we would want people to do for us if we were in that position” The few times he gets sick he tends to be miserable and wanting to get out of bed almost immediately.

“Are there many volunteers?”

“Not nearly enough” she sighed “My sister sometimes, rarely, tags along with her best friend but I wished more people would sign up. I’m trying to get some people I know to sign up”

He nodded in agreement “wait, did you say you lived in Bravos?”

“ah, yes. For a while” her face scrunched up a bit as if she wasn’t comfortable talking about it.

“So you saw all the bravosi art we are writing about first hand?” he had always imagined what it’d be to live someplace faraway. He was born in King’s Landing, in Flea Bottom, and he had lived here his entire life.

“No. I didn’t get to… this is our stop” she stood up and he followed her out of the bus. She said goodbye and went her way home.

She seemed uncomfortable when he asked about Bravos and he made a mental note to not ask her again. It was the first time she had shown some sort of discomfort, her usually perky smile gone for a moment.

He kept thinking about Arya, the volunteer at the children’s hospital, as he walked home. She may be an odd girl but he realized that he was starting to like that bit of oddness in her. Arya, he had discovered, was an interesting person and he was feeling quite intrigued about her.


	2. Chapter 2

A week passed, it was Sunday and they were working at her apartment. I was a small one-bedroom apartment. They were working on the floor of her living room. It had a comfortable rug and they had pushed her coffee table to the side to make more space for all the books they needed for their research.

She was a good working partner and she was funny and smart. She had the habit of touching him constantly when she wanted him to listen an idea or just when she wanted to say something. It was a simple touch, just the tips of her fingers on his forearm to catch his attention or if she wanted to ask him about something.

He was usually caught off guard whenever she did this, which was all the time. He couldn’t help but feel his heart make a little stop each time she touched him. He was in trouble.

“You do have a lot of books” They were finished studying as he was looking at the book titles placed on a book shelf. They had made good progress and were almost done finishing their midterm. They had ordered Chinese because it was late and both were hungry and tired from studying.

“Yeah, I read a lot and some I take to the kids at the hospital” there were a lot of novels, and books with hard covers that had no tittle in them and that was a bit odd. What could those books be about? He passed his fingers on over the book’s spine and felt some bumps, like dots in certain sequences as if it was a pattern. A lot of the books had it, the little bumps in the leather spine instead of the engraved titles.

What sort of books did Arya read?

“What are this about?” he pointed towards the books as he walked to the kitchen.

“Some are history books, a few are classic novels” he nodded “Some are in bravosi”. Perhaps the weird books were the ones in bravosi, they had different customs and he knew certain things were very different in the countries across the sea.

“You can read and talk bravosi, then?”

“I can speak it, yeah. Reading normally is…” her expression changed as she looked for the way to explain “Reading is still a bit hard, I’m still practicing”.

“That’s cool” he wanted to find out about Arya “How long did you live there?”

“A while, I spent part of high school there in boarding school” That could make sense of why she said she didn’t see much of the city that one time, most of her time was probably spent in school and she’d must’ve come back for the holidays or so he could assume, but he sensed Arya didn’t want to talk about that particular topic because her tone was a bit dry and cut. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so he just went with her to set up the table.

Their food arrived and both were sitting and talking about college and then Arya seemed to be the one keen on finding out about his life, she kept asking about his job and how his friend Thoros was doing.

“He is doing better, he has to wear a cast and can’t walk for a few weeks nor use his arm. His roommate Beric is hating him as he has to help him go to the bathroom, shower and get changed. He has like six weeks of wearing the cast and then he’s off to physical therapy”

“I hope it teaches him a lesson” she chuckled lightly and it was a nice sound in his opinion “to never be that drunk again” and he snorted.

“I don’t think he will ever learn, but he may stay away from windows and that is already progress”.

“Does he attend college too?”

“No, Thoros and Beric are older. They were my bosses. They own the Brotherhood Bar by the main street, the one many people from uni go, have you ever being there?

“Yeah, with Sansa and Margaery” he didn’t know who they were but assumed they were friends of hers.

“I worked there for a while. Sometimes I still take shifts on Friday nights to earn extra cash, or they call me when they are one man short. They helped me a lot and we became friends so I try to be there when they need me”.

“And your main job is?”

“I work as a mechanic at an auto repair shop, one of my foster fathers had an auto shop and he taught me to fix cars. Sometimes I work at the docks unloading stuff, mostly fish that has just arrived. It sucks, because it has to be done at night when it is freezing cold, but they pay very well and in cash”.

“You have like three jobs. Wow, you are very hardworking, Gendry” she was looking at him fondly, like she was proud of him and it made him feel warm “Do you do something else?”

“Sometimes I take freelance design jobs, small ones, thought. They pay good and is mostly a desk job”

“Wow, how do you manage all that?”

He could only shrug “Living is expensive”

“Ain’t that the truth!” she laughed softly “Just make sure to have fun and don’t overwork yourself, Gendry, okay?” her voice and intention surprised him as Arya’s voice held concern and he wasn’t used to people be concerned about his well-being. It was just something he wasn’t accustomed and he felt himself blushing because it was a nice feeling that had caught him off guard.

“You attend college fulltime and do volunteer work, you have to make sure you don’t overwork yourself”

“That is no job, it is something different. Is exhausting, but in a different way” her eyes were lost in a memory “some of the kids are pretty awesome. There is Mycah, he’s incredible and so smart and there is this little girl who is very shy and never speaks and I’m trying to get to her. All of the staff call her Weasel because she carries a little stuffed toy with her at all times. The other day I made her laugh for a second and I was so happy”

Arya’s smile as she spoke about the kids at the hospital was something he couldn’t describe. He wondered if he had ever sound so passionate while talking about something.

“I think that what you do at the hospital is something you should be very proud off, Arya”

“And I think that you should be very proud of what you do, Gendry” she countered back and he laughed a little, feeling warm and something he couldn’t really understand.

-

One day they had to get some work done but the library was full so they settled for working at one of the cafeterias, it had fast internet, good coffee and, according to Arya, killer doughnuts.

She was carrying that bright yellow umbrella again; he hadn’t seen her with it for a few weeks.

“Is it going to rain?”

“Yes”

“The weather forecast didn’t say anything about rain” he always wondered how she knew when it was going to rain. So far she hasn’t been wrong once.

“But it is going to rain, probably in a few hours”

“How do you always now?” he was truly curious to know how she did that. Every time he had seen her walking with that umbrella, which she used as a cane and tapped in on the floor in that one two motion, it had rained.

“The humidity” she simply said and turned to him “I can smell when the humidity rises and I just know”

“You smell the rain?” he shook in disbelief a bit as he chuckled “Really?”

“I think one can say that”

“You are weird, Arya” she smirked.

“But have I been wrong?” her voice was teasing.

“No” he sighed, he knew that she had him in that one.

“Then I’m not that weird, I guess” he looked at her for a moment, not really understanding how to feel about her in that moment but she looked at him with those big grey eyes and he felt something warm spread inside of him and could only smile at her before chuckling.

Hours later when he was in his bed listening to the rain fall he thought of Arya Stark as he drifted off to sleep.

-

“I can’t believe we are done working on this project” they had just emailed their midterm project to their professor. “I’m going to miss working with you, I think you’ve been the best partner I’ve ever had in college” she said as they got up from the bench they had used to revise their paper, for the hundredth time, and send it to their teacher.

“Then you’ve only had shitty partners” he had worked hard because he wanted a good grade and he earned it. He was putting away his laptop and both went on their way home, sharing the same route.

“Probably” she was looking up, watching the tree branches move with the wind “I’m tired”

“Well, midterms are over, at last” he breathed in. It had been a stressful week indeed. He had had barely any sleep and he just wanted nothing more than have a beer and sleep the weekend off. He had made some arrangement to meet his friends later to celebrate midterms being over.

“I just want to not think about anything” she closed her eyes, the wind moving her hair a bit and it made her look soft, almost angelical. He was looking at her, tracing the features of her face with his eyes and for the first time, or it felt like the first time, he noticed how pretty she was. He had thought she looked pretty before, but right now with the hair falling out of her ponytail and moving with the wind, her eyes closed and relaxed even when she had dark circles under her eyes, it was knocking him out of his senses.

“The sun is about to set” the street lights were starting to turn on and the sky was showing those orange hues that appeared when the sun was going down, her eyes were still closed as they walked “I like sunsets”.

“You’re not even watching it” he scoffed as she always seemed to be a bit odd, but he was quite fond of that oddness by now. It was just an Arya trait he had gotten used to.

“There are many ways to see a sunset. You can ‘see’ it as you listen the wind move the branches as you can ‘see’ the rain as by smelling the humidity in the air and the scent of wet earth” her voice was calm. It made a bit of sense, there were certain sounds or scents that could make you see something in your mind.

“You are weird, Arya Stark”

“But the good kind of weird, Gendry Waters” she quipped back adamantly, he couldn’t deny it, thought.

“Hey, my friend Tom is throwing a party tonight, if you feel like doing something tonight to celebrate midterms being over” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck. He was kind of wanting her to accept, he wanted to spend more time with Arya in a non-related college way; part of him was sad that they no longer had an excuse to spend time with her as their midterm project was over. It was almost a way to ask her out without doing so quite exactly. He wanted to chill with her and talk, maybe have a drink with her at the party and he could probably pick her up or…

“I’d really like to go! but I have to go to the hospital tomorrow” her voice was a bit disappointed and he had forgotten she had important things to do with her life on Saturday mornings, unlike him who was going to spend his weekend drinking. He started to feel bad about wasting his time that way, he could be doing better things. “I hope you have fun, Gendry. Tell me all about it when you see me next week” she smiled and he felt his face growing hot. She wanted to see him again and he felt a bit winded at that.

They continued walking, he was reluctantly ready to say goodbye once they reached her apartment building.

“Hey, did you know you can see people without using your eyes?” she spoke all of a sudden.

“How?” he saw something change in her eyes, a glint and a playful look showing.

“I’ll show you” her voice was soft. She grabbed his wrist as she pulled him, that habit of hers of touching him softly when she wanted to grab his attention. She went up one stair case and turned to look at him, with the added height their size difference wasn’t that big, she still had to look up but he no longer was a head and a half taller than her.

“Close your eyes” he obeyed her, feeling his heart beating harder at their proximity.

“You can see them with the tips of your fingertips” he jumped when he felt her light touch on his chest, the tips of her fingers making their way up softly in the most delicate manner. He felt his breath hitch when she reached his neck and they made their way over to his jaw.

“you can memorize someone’s face without seeing them” her voice was nothing but a whisper. He felt the tips of her fingers go over his face. It was intimate and his heart was beating a hundred times per second. She traced his jaw, went up the bridge of his nose, over his closed eyes, his eyebrows, she even ran her fingers through his hair and finally, with the most utter delicacy, over his lips and he gasped slightly.

Her finger tips started trailing their way down again, down the side of his face, down his neck and they were over his shoulders again. He didn’t know if he should open his eyes now, but he didn’t want to so he kept them close for a moment longer, trying to prolong this moment.

“Now I know your face” he felt her hands leaving his shoulders and when he opened his eyes he felt as if he had just woken up from a dream. Her face was close and he wanted to shorten the distance but he was scared of crossing any line. Her grey eyes were striking and she looked as if she was searching for something in him, whatever it was she seemed to find it as she smiled softly “Have fun in my name, okay?” he could only nod in agreement and he stood there as she went inside her building apartment.

The way he felt his heart beating hard and loud was a declaration of what he feared his problem was.

-

He found himself drunk at a party and it wasn’t even midnight, but he had started early and got pissed so fast after a game with Anguy. He could stand his ground but he was dizzy, his movements were slow and clumsy and his mind kept drifting to thoughts about Arya Stark.

He kept thinking about her, especially when a guy with a bright yellow shirt showed up and the color reminded him of that bright umbrella she constantly carried. He wondered if she was asleep at the moment, or if she had gone out with a friend. Maybe she didn’t want to be at a party with him and went out with that red haired friend she had.

He shook those thoughts out of his head because Arya seemed to be the person who told the truth, she was going to do something remarkable the next day. Arya was remarkable, a girl like none he had met.

“Hey, Gendry!” Jeyne came in front of his, she had been in one of his classes one semester, always trying to talk to him.

“Hey” he managed to answer back, not really wanting to talk to her. The only person he wanted to talk to right now wasn’t at this party, at all.

Jeyne was talking to him but he wasn’t really paying attention. He felt his phone vibrate and took it out, he had a new message. It was kind of difficult to unlock his phone as his fingers felt a bit numb.

From Arya Stark: I hope you are having fun, Gendry! Don’t go falling out of windows like your friend! ;)

He laughed slightly at her text, turned around mumbling some sort of goodbye to the girl talking to him and without much thought he called Arya, his fingers did collaborate this time.

“Hello” her voice was warm and he found himself smiling as he stood in the middle of the party.

“Arya!” he felt happy and relief she had answered his call.

“Hey, Gendry! Having fun?” he nodded answering.

“Yeah yeah, sort off” he nodded again and chuckled “you can’t see me nod” he laughed, his words were a bit slurry and he was feeling ashamed that he had called her in that state but he heard her laugh over the line and if he could make her laugh then it was okay.

“You just finished midterms, Gendry. And you work so hard! You deserve to have fun but is something wrong? Why did you call me?” the living room of Lem’s apartment was too loud so he started to walk outside, stumbling a bit.

“I was thinking about you” his thoughts were back to her exiting the hospital after volunteering “I think you are pretty amazing” he raised his hand, trying to trace his nose bridge with the tip of his finger, like she had done before that afternoon, but ended up poking himself.

“Oh”

“And I just…” he gulped, trying to regain his train of thought “I just wanted to tell you that” he passed his hand over his face to clear his head a bit.

“Well, I think you are pretty amazing too, Gendry” he smiled, a goofy drunken smile as he felt a warm feeling extend over his body at her words.

“I want to be your friend” if she was his friend he could keep seeing her and he wanted to keep seeing her.

She chuckled lightly “We are already friends, Gendry. Now, go back to your friends or go home to sleep and don’t drink anymore, okay? otherwise you’ll be hangover until we see each other in class”

“Okay. Bye, Arya” he leaned against a doorframe.

“Bye, Gendry. Stay away from windows!” she hanged up. He was going to go home and think about his lovely friend Arya Stark after the world stopped spinning.


	3. Chapter 3

By Monday morning he felt stupid and ashamed to have called Arya when he was shitfaced. It was hazy but he remembered telling her she was amazing and that he wanted to be her friend. At least he didn’t think he had told her that he thought her pretty, that would’ve been something really embarrassing and something he felt he should do when he was sober.

He saw her sitting by the tree he usually spotted her, he was walking towards her when he noticed that she seemed to be talking to the tall red haired girl. She could be the one he saw her at that party they ran into each other months ago. They seemed to be arguing in low voice and he could hear them a bit as he made his way to Arya.

“Please, don’t miss it this time!” the ginger girl said.

“I know! I won’t! I just overslept! I already booked one to make it up!”

“Is that I worry when you do stuff like that! Go and tell me everything the doctor says, okay?” the red haired sighed as he saw her standing up. The girl extended her hand, sticking her pinky to Arya “Promise?”.

Arya rolled her eyes as she lifted her hand and hooked her pinky to the other girl’s one “Promise” and the girl smiled. They seemed to be over their argument.

“Gendry!” Arya noticed him approaching in that moment and smiled and he felt his face heat up. The other girl looked at him, eyeing him from up and down and grinned.

“See you later, Arya. Don’t be late for our dinner! Marg is making the lasagna you love!” with that the ginger left, not before giving Arya and him a weird look.

“Don’t forget to think about what I told you!” Arya raised her voice so the girl could hear her as she went away.

“Count me in! I’ll tell Marg and the guys!” and with that the girl was gone.

“Friend of yours?” he shifted uncomfortably in his place.

“That is just Sansa being Sansa” Arya shrugged “What’s up?”

He rubbed the back of his neck “I want to apologize for calling you on Friday, I shouldn’t have” he felt himself blushing harder.

“Don’t be sorry, I was happy you called me, what are friends for if not for drunk calls?” he could only feel himself blushing harder as she teased him and laughed. He liked the sound of her laugh.

“I was trying to bake cupcakes and your call kind of cheered me up after I had ruined another batch. I really can’t bake for shit”.

He laughed as he sat on the grass next to her and crossed his legs while taking notice that she had a book in her lap, but the pages were blank and he stared for a moment, wondering if what he saw on them were small bumped dots. She must’ve taken notice because she closed the book quickly and put it away

What sort of book was that?

Arya always seemed to carry a book with her, she had those untitled books in her book shelf. One day he hoped she’d shown him those books. But first he wanted to say something important.

“Hey, I’ve been thinking that I want to volunteer at the children’s hospital” he picked a bit of grass before tugging the sleeve of his hoodie. The entire weekend he had thought about it, after how stupid he had felt that he gets to spend his free time getting shitfaced or sleeping in as someone else was using that time to help people.

“Really?” the excitement in her voice made his look up, he nodded eagerly and her smile widened “That is awesome!”

“But I don’t know where to sign up or anything really”

“Well, you show up on Saturday and I’ll sign you up and you can meet everyone. If you want you can bring books or things to teach them, toys or anything. We are planning on doing prom for them in a few weeks. And Mycah’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks, remember I talked to you about it? that is why I was trying to bake cupcakes”

“Yeah, I remember”

“He has been there for a while. He’s really ill and the doctors are saying that things aren’t looking good” her eyes went sad “His birthday is coming and I’m throwing a small party for him. I tried to bake cupcakes according to doctor’s specifications. Birthdays and Christmas are the days the doctors lift their dietary restrictions, but I don’t want to bring him anything that he is not recommended to eat. So I tried to bake vanilla cupcakes, but with real vanilla, all organic and not using dairy and vegan, but they ended up tasting like rubber” the disappointment in her voice was notorious.

“I think I can help with that” her eyes glistened at his words.

“Do you know how to bake?”

-

“I can make them, yeah! Totally!” HotPie announced happily. Arya had explained the situation to him after Gendry had introduced them.

He had taken Arya to HotPie’s, his old roommate and the greatest baker he had ever met. He owned a small bakery close to campus and if anyone could help Arya was HotPie “I can use almond milk or soy milk, vanilla pods, organic sugar and with no eggs even. I can make a “clean version” of a desert. Yeah, I’ll do it”

“Really?” Arya’s excitement was all over her face.

“Yeah, I’ll experiment and look up what I can make for them. It is an incredible cause, I want to help” HotPie had brought up two coffee cups for them and some scones as Arya explained what she wanted to do and explained the dietary restrictions.

“I can make vanilla cupcakes, some biscuits too. I’ll see what else I can make for that party” HotPie smiled.

“How much will it cost?” Arya asked.

“No, it is on the house” he knew Hotpie would say that.

“Hotpie…” he tried to change his friend’s mind.

“No, I won’t accept it. Those kids deserve a good time and if I can do something to make it happen I’ll do it. I’ll be there with the cupcakes, don’t worry. Or you can drop by and pick them up. All I know is that your friend Mycah is going to have and incredible birthday!”.

“Alright” Arya smiled “Are you sure it isn’t too much bother?”

“Totally, leave it to me!”

“So, we better be going. I have class later. Thank you so much, Hotpie!” Arya stood up and hugged him.

“Anytime, I want to help with something for that prom thing too. Okay? I think it is time that this business does a good deed for people who need it, if not then we are just greedy people”

Arya was taking her wallet to pay for what they had consumed, he was doing the same.

“Friends don’t pay” Hotpie refused again and Arya laughed and hugged him once more.

“You are gold, Hotpie” Arya’s smile made everything worth it, it made him happy.

“Gendry, you up for footie this saturday?” Hotpie asked him.

“Can’t, I have something important to do Saturday mornings” he answered and Arya’s smile make his heart stop for a moment.

“Well, another time, maybe when we play on Friday nights. Arya you should come too to hang out with us, we play footie but we suck and then we just have a few drinks”

“I’ll try to be there. It was really nice to meet you, HotPie”

“I was nice to meet you, Arya. I’m surprised you managed to befriend that loner Gendry is” he blushed “He says we are friends, and I think he has like two more but sometimes I think he can’t stand any of us! All grumpy as he is” HotPie chuckled and punched him lightly, it was a joke but he blushed nonetheless “Take care you both, visit me more often”.

“We’ll do!” Arya said as they excited the bakery, waving HotPie goodbye.

-

“I can’t believe it! Mycah is going to have the best birthday ever!” Arya was so excited and she grabbed his arm to catch his attention “Thank you so much, Gendry”.

“I’m glad I could help” he shrugged.

“How did you meet Hotpie?”

“He was my roommate. He grew up working in his father’s bakery. He came for college to get an engineering degree but took notice that what he enjoyed most was baking. So he dropped out and opened his business as he knew already all there is to know about pastry. He lived in the back of his shop to save rent and his business is taking off. He now lives in a small flat two blocks away, I usually drop for breakfast after working at the docks, since I’m like out by 5am and he’s already baking bread at the shop”

“Good for him to find what he loved so early, he is lucky” he couldn’t help but agree with her.

-

On Saturday morning he found himself entering the hospital with Arya and feeling nervous. He put on a white shirt, some jeans and his leather jacket because it was cold. Arya had shaken her head in a disapproving manner and pulled out of somewhere a colorful scarf and put it around his neck.

“We always try to put some color on ourselves” she had her big goofy glasses on, carried her yellow umbrella and was wearing a bright orange t-shirt, green chucks and jeans smeared in paint “to brighten up the place. I should’ve told you, but I forgot… I should’ve taken notice that you usually dress in the grey scale”. She smiled and he thought for a moment that she could brighten the entire building by herself.

“I don’t dress only in grey scale” he scoffed.

“Yeah, you sometimes use that blue jacket” her voice was teasing but he was surprised she had noticed his wardrobe but Arya started talking again.

“Now, the only rules are to try to smile all the time and never ask them what they have. If you must you can ask how are they doing, but try not to be depressing, okay? Oh, and if you have a cold don’t even think in showing up, okay? Their immune system in most cases is compromised”

“Okay” he was nervous.

Arya smiled at him “You are going to do great, Gendry” she took his hand and guided him inside. He didn’t let go until the elevator opened on the seventh floor, Arya didn’t seem to mind.

-

For whatever he had prepared, it wasn’t for this.

He knew what he was getting himself into, a hospital’s wing full of sick children. He knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, that it was a hard sight to see but it still shocked him and tensed up when he walked in, trying to smile nervously as Arya introduced him to the volunteers and to the kids.

“You are going to be fine, Gendry” Arya grabbed his hand as she leads him on.

-

“Is he your boyfriend?” Arya was next to a boy’s bed. He had beanie on and his skin was an ashy pale color and there was an IV attached to his side.

“This is Gendry! Gendry, this is Mycah”

“Hey” he nodded, shifting uncomfortable “I’m Gendry”

“You suck at this” Mycah said with a serious face.

“I know!” he shrugged “But I’ll try not to suck that much” the boy looked at him for a moment, analyzing him.

“You’ll do” Mycah looked at Arya, both sharing something in the way they were looking at each other until Mycah’s eyes returned to him “Just make her bring her pretty sister and her hot friend more often and you’re good!” Arya laughed at that and turned away to play with some girls.

-

Arya was in the middle of the room reading out loud to a bunch of kids who wanted her to read something to them. She was impressive like that, reading and transmitting so much emotion of what was happening in the story and he could only look at her.

He felt some movement by his side and noticed a little girl standing next to him, she was carrying a weasel stuffed toy. She had too a beanie on, and pink pajamas.

“Hello, Weasel” he whispered, Arya had mentioned the shy little girl a lot. The girl looked at him and blushed and moved a bit closer to him to listen to what Arya was saying.

-

Arya was now doing some sort of improvised sketch comedy show with other volunteers as he sat next to Mycah. Mycah had been reading a book, the history of automobiles and he dropped to chat about him. He told the boy that he worked at a garage shop and soon they found each other talking about cars for a while.

They were engulfed in discussing motor engines when Arya’s loud laugh distracted them for a moment.

“She has never brought a friend before, only her brother once and her sister a couple of times”

It was a shame none of her other friends had decided to help with the kids.

“Arya is pretty am… cool, she’s pretty cool” he felt himself blushing

“She is” Mycah chuckled “She’s different than most people who comes here, she doesn’t look at us with pity in her eyes since she knows what living here is like” what? His head snapped to look at Mycah who still had his eyes on Arya.

Was she at some point in the children’s wing of a hospital?

“I think it is good Arya has a friend” Mycah looked at him, his eyes held wisdom beyond his years or, at least, that was what Gendry thought in that moment. Mycah had lived what no other kid should at his age, what no other person should ever go through.

“Hey, so what is the worst case of a destroyed car you’ve ever seen?” Mycah asked him all of a sudden.

“Once a dumb idiot named Joffrey brought in a destroyed brand new Porsche” he scoffed “How could you own a car like that and not treat it right?!”

“Men, people are crazy!!” Mycah complained “If I had a Porsche I would treasure it forever!”

“I know, right?” both went on to talk about that case.

-

They were at the park, sitting on the grass next to each other under a tree. They hadn’t talked much after leaving the hospital.

“How do you do it?” he felt tired, but those sort of tiredness you felt when you have had an emotional day. His body felt heavy after carrying so much emotion. His heart hurts remembering the ashy faces, the bald heads, the sad eyes. It wasn’t only a just a cancer wing, apparently it was also a recovery area for kids that dwell with certain procedures, surgeries and anything non contagious. There were kids recovering from accidents, rare autoimmune diseases and things he didn’t want to imagine.

Life could be unfair, those kids, nobody, deserved to suffer from those illnesses. He wanted to punch someone, he wanted to punch destiny.

“It never gets any easier” she sighed “But it is worth it. Some of them are too tired or too sick, but with us treating them like human beings and doing something for them as for a moment their horrible routines are broken and they can be more like kids, you know? I like to believe it makes it worth it”.

He laid down, looking up at the sky through the branches.

“Will you do it again?” Arya’s question startled him “Are you coming to the hospital with me next week?” her voice sounded unsure.

He sat up in a haste “Of course! I… did you think I would back out after one time?”

“Some people do” she sighed “It is hard for some people. My sister… she likes to come but I know it is hard for her, that is why she brings along her best friend, so the memories won’t come back. She is usually busy, has a nice job as a strategist or something in a fashion magazine, is still attending college and has a boyfriend so sometimes she is busy or too tired on Saturday mornings, but she tells me when she is coming and bringing goods with her”. Arya was picking her nail as she spoke. It was the first time she had talked about her sister so much.

But certain detail caught his attention and he couldn’t just not ask because… Memories? She had mentioned memories…

“Was… was your sister at some point in the hospital?” he didn’t know if he should ask.

“Yes, but not as a kid. She… had to spend there a few days after her ex boyfried beat her up pretty badly. She has hated hospitals since we were kids, though… because she had to visit a lot for a while, that is why she doesn’t like it and it got worst after her stay because she kept associating it with bad memories. Though she enjoys coming from time to time to pass time with the kids, but is like is she has to prepare mentally for it” Arya sighed.

“Fuck… It is totally understandable that she doesn’t want to come. It is pretty brave of her to actually come from time to time”

“Yeah, she’s pretty brave. We used to hate each other when we were kids, but one day we just got along better. She still dreads visiting the children’s hospital, it makes her sad like you are right now after seen the unfairness of it all”

“It is unfair” he sighed “No kid should experience things like that. No one, in general but with kids is even worst”

“It is horrible being sick, I wouldn’t wish it to anyone” her voice held so much sadness and if she just knew.

“Were you the one in the hospital as a kid?” he dared to ask. He heard the way her breath caught, still looking down.

“Yes” so she had been sick, like Mycah had insinuated. That is why she knew what it was like to be in there “Yes, but for a short while but it wasn’t like what we saw today”.

“Oh” so… what the hell did that meant? She had been in a hospital wing but not enough to stay there much? Gendry wanted to ask but he knew that Arya didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“And for some people, it is just hard to go to a hospital and they don’t want to see that kind of things in their life, sick kids and all so I would understand if you…”.

“It is hard, Arya. But I will be there next week with you, and the week after that and unless I have to work or I’m sick I’ll be there with you and Mycah and Weasel” she turned to look at him “Besides, I’m really looking forward to Mycah’s birthday in a couple of weeks and I just can’t miss that”.

“Thank you, Gendry” she moved her hand so it rested over his, still on the ground.

“Thank you for taking me, Arya” they stood there, sitting and looking at the sky for a while, her hand still on his but he had turned his and intertwined their fingers. They stayed there looking to the sky for hours, not saying a word but there were no words to be said.

-

He was walking her home but she took a slightly different turn.

“First time volunteers get free pizza” she turned as she walked backwards.

“They do?” he asked surprised and Arya chuckled.

“Only the ones I like the most” she turned back and guided him to a small pizza place “But I hope you like pineapple on your pizza”.

“It might be the worst pizza treat in the history of pizza treats” he teased and she punched him softly.

“That’s rude!”

-

Is it going to rain?” he asked as they made their way home. Their pizza detour had actually gotten them closer to his place.

“Not today” Arya shrugged “Today is just part of my outfit”. They were walking, Arya tapping the tip of her umbrella on the floor.

“Why do you tap it on the ground when you walk?”

“I do?” her face scrunched in surprise.

“Yeah, you do it in this one two rhythm. You even drag the tip of it against the ground as a guide”

“I didn’t realize I still do” she was looking at her umbrella as if it was the first time she had seen it “I guess old habits are hard to break” she looked deep in thought, frowning, and Gendry wondered what kind of habit Arya was talking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello.  
I'm really sorry for how long I've taken in updating this story but I had been very busy with work and some personal issues as I'm dealing with depression and anxiety issues and I couldn't find the time to properly sat down and write. 
> 
> But don't worry, next chapter won't take long as it is Mycah's birthday party which is already written and I'll upload it in a few days after I've reviewed and edit it. I'm sorry if this has mistakes, I'm trying to upload it while i'm still hyped and then i'll edit it for any mistakes.
> 
> Thank you for your support and lovely words. I hope you like this little chapter and let me know what you think.
> 
> Also, as a personal project I'm doing the Inktober challenge and drawing when I'm free at work and I'd love if you could check it up on my [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/maco.fotoart/) which is [@maco.fotoart](https://www.instagram.com/maco.fotoart/) and follow me there!
> 
> PD: You can find me on tumblr as : blue_nebulae [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and this story gets a new chapter.
> 
> Pssss: You can find me on tumblr as : blue_nebulae [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com)

He was exciting class. Today they had covered cities designed for their users and he was fascinated by the topic. The professor had used Braavos and Pentos as examples since those were famous cities built for every person, counting handicapped people, to roam around freely and without difficulties. Even in old times the city had easy access for people with disabilities, the visually impaired had braile roads available on every street and it was still all built around the most vulnerable people to be able to live freely and easily. More cities, he thought, would do some good if they thought about every citizen instead of built so the cars and transport could roam easier. 

The braille part had caught his attentio. Braavos was famous for their schools for the visually impaired and had built braille roads and every single sign was available in braille. there were braille maps located on main streets. The dotted patterns shown in the slides were familiar, he had seen braille writing before but it wasn't common, yet he had seen them in another place recently but he couldn’t quite remember where.

His class had been interesting and now he had to attend a shift at the auto shop and then he was going over to the bar to help Beric since they were one man short but he wasn’t staying until closing. Truth be told, he was tired as hell with classes, essays and projects.

Most of his courses this semester where theoretical and digital designing so he was out of the forge and project groups, thankfully, but most of the courses required a lot of reading and spending hours in front of his computer screen.

He was planning on skipping a shift at Tobho’s on the weekend and instead working at the docks for a few hours to compensate the money later on. And he would use those hours he’d spend working to do some reading or sleeping, depending what he felt like doing at that moment. He had also worked extra hours the past few weeks to save some money for other things he needed to buy so he was more tired than usual.

Most of his free time he’d spent it at the library reading or, sometimes, studying in the gardens with Arya for their shared class. And if he wasn’t studying, he was designing and if he wasn’t doing anything school related he was working and the few hours he got free these past weeks he had used them to gather with Arya and some other volunteers to make up something for the activities they were going to do with the kids. Arya had rehearsed a made up sketch comedy with some girls and he had come up with some games for the older teens and they had planned Mycah’s birthday and made some arrangements for the prom. They were thinking on getting more volunteers and perhaps he could tell the guys to help out in setting things. 

The semester had only a few weeks left and Arya was planning to throw the hospital’s prom after all the classes had ended and summer vacations had begun so most of the volunteers will have more free time on their hands.

He had been to some volunteer Saturdays and he loved it. The kids were incredible and being with them lighted up his entire week. He’d spend most of his time with Weasel, she’d taken a liking to him and he had gotten fond of her.

He was walking when someone approached him.

“Hi, Gendry” it was Jeyne.

“hey” he greeted her as he kept on walking, she was walking beside him.

“Are you going to this Saturday’s football match?” she asked him “It’s been a while since you’ve gone to one, Anguy has been missing them too”

As he made his way through campus he saw Arya walking to the tall red haired girl. Both girls were talking and Arya was smiling and the sight of that made his lips turn upright with a little smile he tried to fight.

“Can’t, got something important to do on Saturday mornings” this Saturday was Mycah’s birthday and Arya had put so much thought and detail into the party and he was just eager to attend.

“Oh… I was hoping to see you there. Well, I’m sure you’ll join the guys for some other match”

“Uhm yeah, maybe next Friday”

Arya caught sight of him and waved at him, like she usually did when they ran into each other. He waved back and this time he couldn’t help the grin that took over his face.

“Is she a friend of yours?” his attention shifted to Jeyne for a second.

“what? Ah, yes” he looked back at Arya who was frowning slightly looking at him before her attention shifted to her ginger friend who was saying something to Arya that made Arya shoved her slightly and roll her eyes. The other girl just laughed and hugged Arya before dragging her by the hand someplace.

In that moment Gendry thought that Arya may be a bit odd but her friends were weirder. And now he was late for work.

“Gotta go, bye Jeyne” and he turned for the parking lot because he couldn’t really afford to be late for work.

-

He was off work at the auto shop when he realised that he hadn’t received any messages from Arya all day. She’d usually text him about her day, random stuff and about what they were going to do at the hospital.

He had never been fond of talking to people on the phone and only called when it was absolutely necessary, but he enjoyed talking to Arya whenever she called or texted. She teased him sometimes for drunk calling her, but it was a teasable and a lowest point in his life, calling his crush. Because he had to accept that he had a crush on Arya, his friend.

And he had just gotten so used to talking to her that not receiving a text from her was weird and he wondered if something was wrong and before he knew it he was calling her and nervously waiting for her to pick up her phone. The anxiety was high and he was hoping that she would pick up because he rarely called. His mind kept telling him that she may be busy or out or not wanting to talk to him and…

“Hello” she answered after the third and her voice sounded so close and warm that it made his heart beat faster inside his chest and relief washed over him because she had picked up the phone.

“Hey!” he had a silly grin on his face as he walked to his car “Are you busy?”

“Not really, I was just about to finish and go home” she sounded serious and not as bubbly as usual.

“Oh… What you’ve been up to? You haven’t texted me all day”

“Oh… I thought you might be busy and I didn’t want to disturb you” he was busy but he always made time for her.

“I was working but you know I always answer you when I’m on a break” he opened the door of his beat up car.

“Oh… you were at work?” her voiced changed, sounding a bit surprised now.

“Obviously… where else would I be? I always have a shift at the garage on Fridays afternoons, you know that”.

“Oh I just thought that perhaps you’ve gone out…”

“Out where?” he was curious, where could Arya imagine him going?

“Dunno…” she sounded sheepish “with some friends or something, like it’s Friday...”

“The guys?” he had no idea why Arya might be thinking he was out with the guys from his class, they hanged out occasionally as he had told her before, he may sometimes join them on football matches but not lately as he had been too busy “well, today there is not football match and Tom and Anguy have a workshop booked to work on their finals because they are taking the courses I took last term”

“Ah… I don’t know, I saw you with a friend earlier when you were leaving and thought you may have gone out”

“What friend? What…?” he was inside of his car now. Earlier, when he had seen Arya he was leaving campus only that... oh, Jeyne had come to say hello.

“I saw you hanging out with this girl earlier and I thought…”

“Girl? Jeyne? The only girl I saw today I think was Jeyne who is in one of my classes, she came to say hi and ask if I was playing with the guys tomorrow”

“oh… and are you…”

“What? No way! It is Mycah’s birthday! There is no way I’m missing it!” Arya had put so much effort into planning Mycah’s birthday party that he was dying to see it.

“Oh” her voice sounded relieved “Good! I wanted to text you…”

“You should have. I was bored today and lonely” he hesitated if he should say what he wanted to say but he really wanted to say it before he lost any courage and he wanted Arya to know it “I… I missed you today” he heard her take a deep breath.

“I missed talking to you too…” her voice was low and it sounded as if she was smiling on the other side of the line, probably like he was doing it now with his big goofy grin “So… HotPie called me and said that the cupcakes will be ready but he can’t deliver them himself because he has to be at the bakery since he can’t leave Lommy alone running the shop or something like that but that Lommy will be delivering them. He also said he has made like a hundred other things”.

“What is a Lommy?” what the hell was a Lommy? It sounded weird.

“I asked the same and apparently is his new apprentice and assistant and his name is Lommy” she sounded amused “I looked him up on Instagram. His name is actually Lommy”.

“What are the odds that a guy called Hotpie hires one named Lommy?” he asked chuckling lightly.

“Beats me, so he says the guy will be early at the hospital with the cupcakes and some stuff HotPie has made for the kids so I’ll be there earlier than usual to meet with the guy. Apparently he has visited the hospital and asked doctors what he could make for the kids”

“I can pick you up tomorrow and get you to the hospital” he offered. He enjoyed spending time with her and he didn’t want to miss any opportunity “I’m sure you’re bringing tons of things for decorations and presents”

“Really? Because I’m meeting Lommy very early, around 7.30 and I was going to finish decorating tomorrow, finishing touches”

“Yeah, I’ll pick you up and we’ll go together and I’ll help you set up”

“I’m still shocked you have a car, like we were always walking and then suddenly you mentioned a car, I should’ve taken advantage of it more often”

He chuckled “I mostly use it to go to work, I live in walking distance to college so there is no use on using it for that and you live like two blocks from my house. You never asked if I had a car! I had to mention I couldn’t study with you on last week because I needed to change the oil on it before going to the docks that night”.

“You’re taking me everywhere from now on!”

“As m’lady commands” he teased her and heard her groan as she complained about the nickname “So I’m starving, do you want to grab a bite or something?”

“Yeah! I’m starving too. I’m at the hospital, pick me up?”

“Deal”

-

The Saturday of Mycah’s birthday came and it wasn’t like he had envisioned it.

Hotpie had went all in, not only making cupcakes but a giant two tier cake. It was all organic, with no food coloring, vegan and tasted and looked amazing. 

Hotpie had also made fruitsicles and fruit jello made from real fruit juice thickened and set with something called agar agar apparently. The nurses had told him once that kids on chemotherapy were given those treats to help with the heartburn side effects or the metal taste they had in their mouths from the treatments, it would also help with upset tummies. Usually the hospital made the treats for the kids but there never seemed to be enough. Now the nurses were excited since all the kids would get the treats during treatment hour the next couple of days. 

Arya had decorated the entire children's wing and common area where the kids had gathered there to play, the parents had come and enjoy the day and help with whatever they could. Arya had gotten balloons, confetti and managed to make the place look like the explosion of birthday parties.

Arya’s friends Sansa, the ginger, and Margaery, the weird brunette, had tagged along this day bringing some flower arrangements, flower crowns. At first he was worried they were going to be banned for causing allergies or something by the doctors because of the flowers but, apparently, they were the most realistic fake flowers he had ever seen. Those two barged in, started to give away flowers and all the girls in the wing went crazy placing flower ornaments in their heads. It was a cool thing to do, those two were almost as bright as Arya, no wonder they were her friends.

In plain sight it looked like an incredible party, even that Lommy kid had been amazing as he had set up and made an impressive dessert table and then went to the nurses to give them the things HotPie had sent. Hotpie had even made things for the nurses and doctors.

Yet, if one looked really close there was something off and he knew what it was.

“She’s trying hard pretending nothing’s wrong, isn’t she?” a sudden voice startled him. He turned to his right and saw Sansa, who was looking at Arya, like he had been doing. Arya was trying hard to make it alright, to make it the best day for Mycah but the boy wasn’t feeling well, he was having a bad day and Arya seemed deemed to lift his spirit.

“Heard he had chemo yesterday, but things aren’t looking good” Sansa said. He knew Mycah’s case was difficult, but Arya never spoke about how bad it was and he never dared to ask.

“She has never told me what his prognosis is. I had to ask a nurse to know because I was worried. Has she ever told you?” he shook his head “I thought she would have told you… I was hoping she did… If she had told someone then It could mean she was feeling more hopeful and optimistic about the outcome… but if she’s not…” Sansa sighed.

“what is his condition?” he asked softly, wishing it wasn’t as bad as he feared.

“Osteosarcoma, an aggressive type bone cancer” she sighed and he cursed in a low voice “he’s not responding to treatment and the cancer has spread, his kidneys are starting to fail”

He watched Arya as she showed Mycah all the presents he had received, as she tried to make him laugh while moving his wheelchair around showing him everything. He was standing there, watching Arya and Mycah being strong and wondering how could someone so small so strong.

“So you must be the best friend she can’t stop talking about. She must really like you to bring you here” he heard Sansa speak again.

“What?” she talked about him? “I’m not her best friend, that would be you! She’s always saying Sansa this and Sansa that, and if she’s not talking about you she’s talking about her sister” Arya had mentioned Sansa over and over, she was the only person she had seen Arya hang around on campus and she had brought her here.

Arya was by the present table with Mycah and his father, talking and laughing. He observed Mycah, he was skinnier and paler than last time, on nurse’s orders he was bound to a wheelchair and attached to an iv drip. For the first time, Mycah looked fragile in his eyes.

Sansa sighed next to him as if she was disappointed in something “Seems like she still likes to deny or omit the small fact that I’m her sister and talk about me as just Sansa or never mention the sister’s name! That’s not fair! I think it’s her passive aggressive revenge for me being a bitch to her while we were kids so maybe I do deserve it” she chuckled softly “I’m her sister and you’re like her best friend Gendry who sits next to her in class and sucks at not being grumpy”

“I’m not grumpy” he kind of was “And I’m not her best friend, that would be Mycah” Sansa chuckled.

“She has never brought friends to this, she never tells people she does this. She has only asked me and Jon to come. I’m glad you came; she was excited when she told me you wanted to do this” Sansa turned to look at him. Sansa’s eyes were blue and completely different than Arya’s greys yet there was something in the intensity and way of looking at him that was familiar, they were indeed sisters.

Sansa looked at him in a certain way, as if she was escrutinizing his entire existence and something shifted and he suddenly felt weird, as if he had been approved in some kind.

“We should go back to the party, I’m sure Margaery is about to start a game” and with that Sansa turned and joined the other girl who was making flower arrangements with some girls.

Right now, Arya was giving Mycah a cupcake, seeing if he was feeling better to eat. He was looking at Arya when he felt a tug on his pants, looking down he saw Weasel. She was wearing a pink pajama today, her hair was growing, it was still patchy but it could be almost an inch long now and it was a muddy brown color.

“Hello” he greeted happily, she giggled and motioned him to get down to her level and he kneeled next to her because if Weasel asks you something, you obey. Over the times he had come to the hospital, Weasel had taken a liking to him and he found her to be a sweet girl and he was always at her disposal. Arya had commented that Weasel was very shy and that it was weird for her to approach someone, so he should encourage her more to be a bit more open.

“what is it, Weasel?” he asked. Weasel looked down and he saw her blush and shifted in her place, he noticed she was holding something behind her back “Do you want to show me something?” she nodded and handed him a cupcake.

“Oh! Thank you! I haven’t had one yet!” he smiled to Weasel and accepted the cupcake and took a bite “They are really yummy, aren’t they?” he asked back and Weasel nodded “My friend made them, he’s the best baker in the world. I’ll make sure to bring you something next time I come, okay?” Weasel nodded again and went back to play with some of the girls in the room.

“She likes you” Arya was next to him when he stood up again finishing the cupcake, her voice was tender “She’s shy and doesn’t open much to people, but she likes you”.

“You think so?” Ever since he came here Weasel approached him, he’d often read for her and just talk to her even if she didn’t reply with words.

“Yes, I think she has a little bit of a crush on you” Arya chuckled and he turned to look at her surprised.

“What?! No… I…” why would a little girl no…

“It’s cute, actually!” she got closer to him “You are handsome and nice to her and you always play along with what she wants; sometimes that is all it for little girls to develop a little bit of a crush” he felt himself blushing while Arya giggled.

“You… Weasel thinks I’m handsome?” he asked surprised and Arya rolled her eyes.

“I’m pretty sure she thinks so” Arya got even closer to him and in a low voice whispered “Do you want to know a secret?” he nodded, not sure about what to do or say “I am pretty sure agree with her” Arya winked at him before giggling again as his face felt like burning, he could bet he was blushing madly and his face was probably a deeper shade of red than Arya’s sister’s hair.

“I… you?” Arya laughed and then she was just next to him, almost leaning on him while looking at his face, she was so close he couldn’t think much.

“Do you always have to eat so messy? You have icing on your face, stupid!” she laughed while raising her hand and with the tip of her index finger cleaned the icing that was on the corners of his lips and his brain started to melt, but then he watched the icing disappear along with the tip of her finger into her mouth and for a second his brain literally shut down.

“That lemon frosting is so good!” Arya smiled “Now you’re all clean! I’m going to see if Mycah wants anything. He’s feeling tired so he might end up going to his room” and with that she turned around and left and he was standing there like an idiot looking at her walk away in her bright blue skinny jeans and yellow t-shirt.

“OH, she’s good!” he heard someone laugh and he turned to see Margaery and Sansa smirking at him while eating cupcakes with Weasel who had a knowing smile on her face. He mumbled something and turned around to disappear for a bit, probably to calm himself down so he wasn’t blushing anymore.

What the hell had happened?

Arya had flirted with him openly and so forward and it had been embarrassing, hot as hell and he wanted her to do it all over again. He’d never see a cupcake in the same way again.

-

“Hey!” he knocked as he entered Mycah’s room. He had a private room now because he was receiving extensive treatment “May I come in?”

“Yeah” the boy said and Gendry went inside. Mycah was now resting, with a bunch of open and unopened presents next to him.

“I got you a present, wanted to give it to you personally” he said as he sat next to Mycah’s bed. It was the first time in the entire day he had observed Mycah closely, his eye bags were darker and he was skinnier than last time he saw him. The sickness was taking a harder toll on him.

“Here, take it” he placed the box on Mycah’s lap “I hope you like it” Mycah sat straighter as he teared open the wrapping paper and he saw Mycah’s face lit up.

“Oh my god! Is it?”

“Yes” he laughed.

“The Ferrari 250 gto from 1962!” He beamed as Mycah’s car knowledge came into view “How? This is a collection item!”

“I know a guy, got it at a decent price. I knew you’d like it” He had worked a bunch of shifts on the docks for the past few days to get this present and he was happy Mycah had liked it.

“Man! This is awesome! I’ve been talking to Arya about this for ages, she has like no idea what this is but man, can’t way to show her!”

“Your birthday party was pretty cool, huh?l” he commented.

“Yeah… Arya made it the best” he felt himself blushing at the thought of Arya, reminiscing what she did a few minutes ago “Yeah… I kind of put a bummer on by being sick today” Mycah sighed “She was trying hard to make me forget how shitty I feel, she’s too good and my body is shit”

“She is, but it I mean, she gets it if you’re not feeling entirely well, you know? It is expected and nobody can blame you, you know it”.

“I know, but I’m not getting better and she knows it” Mycah turned to look at him “You know about her brother, don’t you?” the boy suddenly asked “She knows how bad things can get being here…” there was it again, he wanted to know what had happened to her before.

“She’s mentioned someone being in the hospital but she doesn’t like talking about it”

“Her brother was sick for a while and stayed a while on her hometown’s children’s wing, he’s better now” oh so that was the person she visited in the hospital “That’s why she knows how bad it is in here, she lived it with her brother and then…”

“She was the one in the hospital too, right? She’s said it but she doesn’t talk about it”

“You should ask her” Mycah said “She likes you and you are friends, right?”

“Yes, I hope we are” He already considered her his best friend and he wanted to know everything about her “I hope one day she can talk to me about it”.

“Ask her”

“I think she’ll tell me when she feels like it”

“Maybe, Arya will do what she wants to do” by then Mycah’s eyes went down for a moment and he felt the atmosphere change, a cold and sad demeanour took over the boy.

“Promise you won’t let her be too sad when the time comes” Mycah was looking at his thin hands.

“What time?” he could feel his heart drop at Mycah’s words.

“If some of us have to go” Mycah turned to look at him “Be her friend, okay?” Maybe he did know what Mycah was talking about, it was something he wasn’t really aware of knowing in that moment or he feared to acknowledge. The only thing he knew was that the boy in front of him, had seen, knew and felt what no other kid at that age should have.

“I promise” he meant it.

-

“We should have stayed to help clean everything” Arya complained as they were heading home.

“Mycah’s dad said he got it, and your sister and her friend are staying to help. Pretty much Mycah’s dad and the nurses kicked you out because you had already done too much”

“still… I… I don’t know I don’t feel… argh”

“I know you wanted to stay but take it as a thank you from all of them for all of you’ve done” he turned the car to the right, he wanted Arya to get a bit distracted, he knew she was worrying about Mycah who had fallen asleep even before they left as he was too tired from all the activity.

“Where are we going?”

“Figured you wouldn’t want to go home just yet, and it is past lunch hour and even though we have eaten our weight in cupcakes I feel like having fish and chips, I need something savory, and I’m taking us to the best place in the entire city! I go there all the time”.

“I think I’m having the after effects of the sugar rush” he chuckled at Arya’s words

“You might be, you’ve eaten too much sweets”

“Hey! HotPie made the best cupcakes in the world! I’m looking forward to what he’s going to do for the prom we are throwing”

“When is that going to be? You’ve been talking about it for weeks” they were by the docks now.

“After school is over. I cleared it out with the hospital, the doctors and nurses are going to be there too and even though it is more for the teenagers the little ones are also going to be part of it. Sansa managed her designer friends to lend us dresses and tuxedos for the kids at the party and Margaery knows make up artists who are going to donate their time and help the girls get ready”

“That is pretty cool!” he parked the car and both got out, Arya took out her umbrella “Is it going to rain?”

“In a little while” she pointed the sky and it was starting to turn grey. Both walked towards a little shop, it had just two tables and it was pretty much a pick up place, he ordered two servings and soda for them.

While they ate he took notice of Arya. She looked tired and her shoulders were dropped, she was feeling sad. After a while they were done, not really talking much while they had lunch.

Once they were done and outside the restaurant the air felt heavy and Arya opened her umbrella to cover them both just as the rain started to fall.

“I swear it is like a super power, how you can tell when it is going to rain”

“You can sense it, smell it and hear it. The air changes when the rain is about to fall, you can learn to feel it. Do you mind if we stay here for a bit?” Arya took a step forward and he followed her until they were near a concrete bench and both sat down next to each other.

“Thank you for coming, it really means a lot to me. Mycah loved your present”

“I like going to the hospital and being with the kids and Mycah is a cool guy, I thought he’d like the gift”

“Do you really think he enjoyed his party?” her voice was sad.

“He did, he told me so” it was the truth, he didn’t mention how Mycah felt a bit bad about not being in his best condition. Arya leaned against him a bit.

“Gendry?”

“Yeah?” he turned to look at Arya

“Nothing?” she breathed in and then turned to look at the sea again placing her head to rest against his shoulder. They stood there for a while, looking at the great sea from the docks.

“Gendry” she spoke after a while, her voice was low, a whisper among the rain “I don’t want Mycah to die” he gulped and took a deep breath as he wrapped his arm around her back, bringing her closer to him, kissing the top of her head as she watched the sea in front of them. She didn’t want to be seen vulnerable and he didn’t push her.

“Neither do I” he hugged her a bit harder, trying to give her some strength.

“I’ll pray for him to live”

He didn’t know much about prayers or gods nor faith, but while looking at the ocean he prayed too, he prayed for Mycah and he prayed for Arya to continue being strong and for him to be able to give her strength if she needed more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a while I'm back.
> 
> It took a lot of me to write this as I'm still facing some issues that i've talked about before here and in Tumblr. I also wanted to thank this wonderful community. Guys, I never imagined writing and reading fanfiction here would help me escape my problems for a little bit, now it is more important than ever as my dad is a bit sick and if you could pray for him or send good vibes i'd appreciate it.
> 
> I still haven't written the final chapter but I have already made the scheme of it, I will try to finish this before the year ends.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr as : blue_nebulae [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com)
> 
> And If you're ever wondering about the state of Dual or the Expectation series I made a post about the status of my unfinished stories [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com/post/189348849728/on-updates).


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story is back with more hugs, football matches and new volunteers.
> 
> I wish i could do mood boards, but I suck at them.

He was eating an apple on a campus bench with Lem, Anguy and Tom, who were complaining about their finals projects and bugging him since he was actually going to play football with them today on a Friday evening, when he saw her coming his way, unaware of her surroundings, looking at her phone and typing at the speed of light, a worried look on her face, and somehow avoiding colliding into people. It was such an Arya thing to do, to walk without looking at her path and focused on something else yet being perfectly able to dodge any person about to cross her path.

She looked as if she had grabbed the first thing she could reach on her closet, a baggy grey t-shirt and an oversized pair of jeans, her hair was in a messy ponytail with little wisps of hair being moved around by the wind and she was caring her umbrella as if it was a sword on her back. It was the oddest and prettiest thing he'd seen in the entire day.

She walked right in front of him, not seeing him and kept on focused on her phone, his eyes glued to her and trying to ignore the disappointment of not being noticed.

She was a few meters away, he could only see her back now as she walked, when she suddenly stopped and turned around and her grey eyes met his and a grin appeared on her face.

Arya turned and walked towards his direction "I knew I felt your eyes on me" she said as she stopped right in front of him.

"How could you? You were being a hazard walking and texting at the same time?!" He asked back, a smile trying to show on his face and he could feel Anguy and Tom's curious gaze on them. They were probably wondering if this was the girl he had mentioned spending time with whenever they asked him to join football matches.

"I can always tell when you're looking at me" she shrugged "classes are over?" He nodded his head.

“Yeah. You?” he asked back as he took a bite of apple.

“Just one more and then I’m meeting Sansa and Margaery, they want me to take them to HotPie’s” her phone rang as she received a text and her face contorted to a worried look as she groaned in annoyance at something.

"Is everything alright?" He noticed the worried look in her face and stood up to be in front of her.

"No" she sighed " two of the volunteers are out of town, one has mono and another one has the flu so they are banned from getting near the children’s wing and a few have finals and can’t make it. It is going to be just us, Sansa whom I convinced to go this week and a few others. Marge is still unconfirmed and even if she can go we are still going to be very few" he could tell she was trying to solve that issue even while talking to him.

“Hey. We’ll figure something out, we can handle it” he lifted his hand and placed it on her shoulder, pressing slightly in a reassuring manner. He was looking at her, her big grey eyes expressive and something flickered in them and suddenly Arya jumped and hugged him, pressing her face against his chest and his arms had immediately placed themselves around her small frame.

This was something they had been doing a lot lately, hugging. They would hug as they said goodbye to each other or after a good day with the kids. Arya would hug him especially hard after they visited Mycah, they would leave the hospital and she would jump at him and burry her face against him and he would wrap his arms around her until she felt better or strong enough to face reality again.

Hel felt her take a deep breath before letting go, but he still held her close "Sorry, I needed to recharge".

“It’s okay” he smiled, he was pretty sure she could’ve been able to hear his heart, it always went mad every time she hugged him.

“See you later?” she asked him as they finally let go from each other.

“Maybe, I’ll call you after I’m done with the guys if it is not too late”

“Right! Your menly men football matches!” she chuckled “Well, see you tomorrow anyways” and with that she took off, walking fast as she usually did and he watched her go as always.

“Dude, close your mouth, drool is coming out!” Anguy broke the spell “you got it bad” the guy chuckled.

“You didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend!” Lem sounded surprised “And she’s pretty!”

“He’s dating Sansa Stark’s sister!” Tom continued “No wonder Jeyne was complaining that you weren’t getting her hints, you were already canoodling with a Stark!”

He huffed and threw his apple at them, it hit Anguy on the forehead “Her name is Arya and we are friends” he got annoyed.

“I’m your friend and you don’t hug me like that” he grunted in response “nor you look at me with hearts on your eyes”.

“How did it happen?” Lem asked, he shrugged in response.

“I saw her walking by” he stood up, that was enough explanation. “I’m going to study, see you on the field” and with that he stood up and left leaving the guys behind.

It was the week before finals, next week it would be completely hectic. He had only two exams, most of his final projects were done and group projects too and he would only have to present them before jury. On Sunday he is going to study with Arya for their history final on Wednesday.

Arya, for some odd reason, was almost over with her finals. She had presented most of her final projects, apparently she had good groups this semester and her group projects were pretty much over and she only had two written exams, one she claimed to have enough marks to pass even if she flunked it and the other one was their Forel course and they had pretty good marks and their studying schedule was great.

He was relieved for all of it because Arya was stretching herself thin, she was studying, volunteering and visiting Mycah regularly and it was taking a toll on her. She had gotten a bit thinner and the dark circles around her eyes were more prominent. He was looking forward the end of the semester so she could rest a bit more.

But now he was going to do some reading as he was going to be working hard next week trying to earn some more money for suit rental and more stuff.  
  


-

“That’s a fault!” Anguy yelled.

“Oh, fuck off!” someone yelled at the guy and Gendry rolled his eyes. He had forgotten that the guys were more complainers than actually players. But he was glad to have joined them, he needed to blow some steam off and the football field was a great way to do it. Lem was the worst goalkeeper in the world so he had to double his efforts as left defense.

It was a good way to pass the time, he was spent and had blown off enough steam to just take a shower, have something to eat and go to bed.

As a friendly match they would just play, take breaks, fight and play again until one team gets tired of losing and they just called it a night. This was probably going to be short as tomorrow morning they were going to play again, as tradition, so at anytime it was going to be over. They were taking a water break when Tom shoved him lightly.

“Oi, your girlfriend is here!” Tom pointed to the right.

“What?” he turned confused to the side of the field, where a few benches were situated, and he saw her. Arya was there, with her sister and scary friend, along with HotPie and other people who had come to see them play. They looked as if they had just arrived, as HotPie was pointing and probably indicating who was who to them.

He was shocked that she had come over, but it made him happy to see her. He was looking at her, awed when she turned and their eyes met. For a second he stood still until he saw her smirk and waved him hello. And before he knew it, he was jogging over to where she was.

“Hey!” she smiled and he felt warm, he must have run more than he thought.

“Hey” he couldn’t help the small smile that wanted to show on his face “fancy seeing you here”

“The girls dropped by the shop today” HotPie began “I’m going to be catering for a Tyrell party, can you believe it?!”

“That’s great, HotPie” he couldn’t take his eyes off Arya “And how did you end up here?”

“I mentioned I was coming over to hang out with you guys”

“And Arya insisted on tagging along!” Sansa said, a tease in her voice as she ate what looked like chocolate cookies.

“Yeah, she dragged us here!” the Tyrell girl full on teased while shoving brownies “no wonder she wanted to come to a footie match, buff guys and her guy playing and looking hot”

“Shut up” Arya rolled her eyes “you talk a lot about playing with your friends, wanted to see if you were any good”

“Lad is good, great defense!” Tom appeared “Hi, I’m Tom” he introduced himself to the girls.

“And I’m Anguy!” the other guy showed up “No wonder you came, wanted to show off to your girlfriend”

“She’s not my…” he blushed and panicked slightly but more guys came by, the effect of pretty girls showing up beginning to act.

“Hi, guys” Jeyne and her sister Willow had been hanging around and now approached the enlarging group “Finished playing?”

“No, this is water break!” Anguy yelled.

“Hi, I’m Willow and this is my sister Jeyne” Willow introduced herself to the girls “Are you friends with HotPie?”

“Yeah! Arya here introduced him to us!” Sansa said “She wanted to see Gendry so we came with her”

“I’m sorry about them” Arya said to him, her cheeks a little bit pinker “I shouldn’t have brought them”

“It’s alright” he shrugged.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen you around campus” Jeyne said to the girls.

“Waters wanted to show off for his girlfriend” another of the guys elbowed him until Lem showed up.

“Girlfriend?” Jeyne asked, a weird tone of voice in her

“We’re not…” he tried to explain and stop the teasing

“Hey! We playing or what? Get your asses back to the field, we have to win this shit!” the guys were leaving but he trailed off a bit. HotPie, Sansa and Margaery went to the benches chatting along with Jeyne and Willow.

“You staying?” he stalled a bit to see her nod and smile. He turned and jogged to the field, they were so winning this match.

-

“Hey! You’re really good!” Arya laughed as she came over once the match was over. He blushed because he may have gone a bit over board because he wanted to show off, the guys were already teasing him but they had won so everything was good.

“Let’s go celebrate, let’s go the Brotherhood!” Anguy yelled as they gathered their stuff “Girls, you coming?” it was a clear attempt of Anguy to spend some time with Jeyne, Sansa Stark and Margaery Tyrell and see if one of them flirts back.

“Nah, thanks, though! We have an early day tomorrow” Sansa answered politely as all of them walked to the parking lot.

“Want me to give you a ride?” He asked Arya. His place was closer to hers than her sister’s.

“Yes, please”

“Alright” he smiled.

“Guys, wait” they all stopped as Tom who had disappeared after the game came back running “Tomorrow’s match is cancelled”

“What? Why?” Lem asked.

“Apparently they are doing some maintenance here and it is going to be closed off. I just ran into the park manager as he was coming over to tell us, he says we should go to his office to have a reschedule” he could hear everyone’s disappointment.

“Well, seems like we can drink the whole night and sleep late tomorrow” Anguy shrugged as he went back walking towards the parking lot with the rest. Margaery was chatting with Sansa, Willow and Jeyne.

He walked as an idea started brewing in his head, but he stopped as it started to clear more on his mind.

He felt a tug in his hand “Are you alright? You’ve got your thinking hard face on” he turned to look at Arya for a second.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…hold on for a second. Meet me at my car, please” He dashed before towards his friends before Arya could answer.

“Guys!” he called for his friends.

-

They were at the hospital, on a small room the doctor always let them use to put their things and get ready, while trying to divide their duties as volunteers the best they could with the few that could make it, yet his mind was somewhere else.

Sansa was explaining some game they could do to entertain the little ones, but he wasn’t paying any attention.

“Are you alright?” Arya nudged him slightly “You’ve got that face you get when you’re thinking too hard” he couldn’t lie and he didn’t need to because his phone rang and he took it out immediately, reading the text he had been waiting and hoping to get.

“Yeah, everything is fine! Remember when yesterday I told you we would find a way to make due even with the lack of volunteers?” he asked Arya, trying to suppress his relief, happiness and nervousness that his plan was working, so far.

“Yeah…” she was now in front of him, looking up to him with her big and pretty grey eyes.

“Well, last night I talked to Anguy and Tom and explained what we do here and I told them we would be short of hands and I asked if they wanted to help today as they were going to be free this morning…”

“And…!” Arya was pretty much grabbing his shirt and standing on her tip toes, demanding him to tell her if his plan had worked as she leaned on him.

“And they said they would think about but that they would text to let me know. And I have just received a text from Anguy saying that they are downstairs in the lobby and they convinced Lem, Yoren, Jeyne, Willow and some of other friends of them to tag along”

“oh my god!” Gendry!” Arya’s voice and smile let him know that he had done a smart thing as she let go of his shirt for only to cup his face with her hands to pull him down and kiss his cheek and his brain exploded.

“Gendry, you’re the sun!” and with that she let go to run for the elevator and he just stood there, frozen because he didn’t know anymore how to move his body as the only part of it he could recognize was the burning skin that Arya had kissed.

“C’mon, stupid! We have to greet them and explain how this works!” with that he got out of his daze and followed her, but he was still jumping on the inside as Arya had kissed him and called him the sun. Two minutes later they walked out the elevator onto the first floor where a bunch of people were waiting for them he could only think that Arya was wrong in one thing, as she was explaining how things worked and how to deal with situations with the kids he could only think that Arya’s smile was the sun.

-

“Hey” he said as he entered Mycah’s room.

“Sup” Mycah was lying on his bed, an Iv attached to his arm, the beep from the machines that monitored his vitals. He was thinner, his skin had a greyish and yellowish hue and his eye bags were more prominent. The fact that someone like the boy in front of him, a smart and kind kid, had to wait until his body could handle no more unless the cure that has to almost has to kill him in order to cure him magically started to work was devastating. He didn’t believe in miracles, much, but he prayed for one every time he visited his friend.

“How…” he stopped right there because it is a question he’s never sure he should ask. It is weird and wrong to ask a sick person how’s they are doing or how are they feeling. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to figure out a way to salvage the situation.

Mycah must’ve seen his despair and chuckled before saving him from further embarrassment.

“Arya introduced me a bunch of weirdos, she said you got them to come here to help”.

“Yeah… she was worried there were going to be so few of us today and I managed to get some help”

“I knew you were going to do alright with this volunteering thing” Mycah chuckled “Your friends may be weird but they made Arya happy”

“Yeah… I was hoping It would”

“Is she your girlfriend now? Or at least have you asked her out?”

“No…” he felt his face heat up “I… I don’t know if she likes and… like… maybe I should wait till school is over or prom or…? She is busy and…”

“Gendry, you are cool guy but you’re kind of an idiot. You’ve got the luxury of time” Mycah’s voice was serious, the type of voices that you know held something you didn’t know and wouldn’t know unless you’ve experienced it yourself, a sort of wisdom one shouldn’t have to know until further in life. But Mycah’s life was short and had been plagued by experiences no one should deal and his voice and eyes reflected it “Don’t waste it by being a coward. If I were you I’d ask a girl like Arya long ago, she’s the coolest girl in the world”

“I will I just… need the right moment because she…”

“She will say yes”

“How can…” he was interrupted by the door opening and Sansa and Margaery making a dramatic entry.

“Hi!” Sansa cheered “Hello most handsome boy in the building! Hello, Gendry my almost brother to be”

In that moment he could only do a face palm and groan against his hands.

“Hello!” Margaery greeted “what you handsome guys doing?”

“I’m scolding the idiot for not asking Arya out”

“I’m not an idiot!” he grumbled against his hands

“OH I was having a similar conversation yesterday with certain person” Sansa laughed “Those two are the stubborn fools, aren’t they?”

“It is pretty painful to watch at certain points” Margaery chuckled

“The slow burn is literally killing me!” Mycah rolled his eyes as Sansa and Margaery walked to each side and brought out a set of cards.

“Don’t joke like that!” Sansa scolded Mycah “What are we playing, tonight?”

“I’m out of here. I’m going to find Weasel” Gendry sighed and left the room as the two girls and Mycah began their usual card game.

Time passed and the end of their time at the children’s wing came to an end. All the volunteers were outside the hospital, congratulating each other for a good day and working hard, the few old ones exchanging numbers with the new acquaintances they had gotten.

“Man, I didn’t know you did this. It… is pretty amazing” Anguy told him “IT’s… it is tough but I believe it to be so… it is good man. I respect you” Anguy patted him on the back “I, do you think you’ll need help next week?”

“We always need help, man” he grinned as he bid farewell to Anguy who seemed to be going to join them on this deed. He was happy Anguy wanted to join them, he seemed touched by the day he’d lived.

He saw Arya a few steps away, making his way towards her he noticed she seemed to be arguing in low voice with Sansa so he stopped, not wanting to interrupt nor meddle in a family quarrel.

He could pick up a few phrases even when didn’t intend to. So far he had listened to Sansa say “I hope you better make an appointment once your finals are over, stop bailing on them!”. It reminded him of of a conversation he heard weeks ago, the day he asked her to take him to her volunteer Saturdays.

“Hey, Gendry” he turned to see Jeyne next to him “This day was pretty incredible”

“Thank you for helping, meant a lot”

“I… can I ask how did you get involved in this?” she asked him.

“Well I met Arya first. And one day I ran into her after I was visiting a friend who was here at the hospital. She was leaving after one of her volunteering days. She told me what she did and I kept thinking about it”

“oh, did she ask you to come?”

“No” he shook his head “One Saturday I woke up feeling hangover and all I kept thinking was how selfish and stupid of me was to waste my life instead of using it to help someone. I asked Arya if I could help and that is how it all began”

“Oh, it is incredible, what you both do” Jeyne looked down “I came here with kind of selfish reasons, honestly but… I want to keep coming back. The kids, they are amazing and, you know I want to be a teacher and I believe I can learn so much and…” Jeyne got lost in thought “It is so meaningful and incredible, this kids are wonderful and it is so noble”

“It is, isn’t it?” he turned to look at Arya who was still quarreling with Sansa “It is noble and incredible”

“Arya, she’s amazing. No wonder you’re mad about your girlfriend” Jeyne chuckled slightly.

“What?” he turned “she is not… we’re not”

“Then hurry up, she’s amazing and anyone can see how you smile when you talk about her and how you look at her. I’ll text you or her about coming next week, I hope the guys can come too” and with that Jeyne and the rest of the guys bid their goodbyes and left.

“Do you think they’ll come back? Anguys’s been telling me he will change the time of Saturday matches so they are during the afternoon, after volunteer hours” Margaery was next to him, probably waiting for Sansa.

“I think some might” he looked back at Arya who was still talking to Sansa “are they alright?”

“They will be. Arya says she missed her doctor’s appointment again, Sansa believes she’s hiding something, which could be possible knowing Arya, and now Sansa is probably arguing that she wants to be next to Arya during the appointment and Arya refuses” he felt cold run up his body at the mention of Arya’s health and doctors “It is their usual banter”

“doctor’s appointment?”

“Sometimes I feel like they miss fighting as they did when they were kids” Margaery shrugged “oh look! Arya must be really serious if she’s doing her weird thing” the weird thing Arya did was taking Sansa’s hands to place them on her own face, and she placed her hands on Sansa’s.

It was the motion of fingertips barely touching one’s faces. He remembers it, how she touched his face when they were just getting to know each other.

It was how Arya sees things, she was making Sansa truly see something in her way.

It was odd exchange and very interesting to watch. Arya said something while making Sansa touch her and then it was over, as both sisters dropped their hands and looked each other in the eye for a moment.

Margaery began walking towards the sisters and he followed her.

“Don’t you dare miss it!”

“I won’t” Arya rolled her eyes but smiles softly.

“Done? Sansa, can you drop me on your way home? Grandma will kill me if I make her wait too long” Margaery asked.

“Yes, I’ll drop you off. Goodbye sister” Sansa turned to him with a somber smile on her face “Goodbye brother” and she winked at him before leaving.

“Sansa!”

Margaery chuckled as they left, her skipping away.

“Your sister and her friend are very scary” it was true. They were nice and he liked them, but they scared him.

“You’re not the first person who has ever said that to me”

“Want me to take you home before I go to the shop?” he was taking a shift today because Mott had ask

“Yes, please” Arya turned to him and smiled and he felt himself blush. They crossed the parking lot “I didn’t know you had a shift today”.

“Mott called earlier, he has some extra work and asked if I could help for a few hours”

“Oh” she looked down “I was going to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me, but it is okay. Tomorrow we’re seeing each other, I’ll treat you before we start digging the books”, he stopped dead in his tracks. It would’ve looked funny if they hadn’t arrived to where he had parked his car.

“I can call Mott…” was she asking him out?

“No, it is alright” Arya smiled “I think it is actually better. Tomorrow”

“Okay…” was it a date? Dammit, he didn’t know if it was a date and he feared asking.

“Gendry” she walked to be in front of him “Thank for today. Really, you have no idea what it meant you got your friends to come and help. They were incredible”

“I’m glad I could help” he rubbed the back of his neck “I saw you so worried yesterday morning and when I heard the guys were going to be free I took a shot at asking them, I didn’t know if they were going to show up but…”

“But they did” Arya smiled “Thank you” and she hugged him, like she did often. It was those type of hugs that warm you inside. He was surprised for a second before his arms surrounded Arya’s waist and brought her closer. It shocked him, how well she fits into his arms, as if she was meant to be there.

“Thank you for being you, Gendry” Arya spoke against his chest and the words felt like caress. People always complained about him being quiet, grumpy and shy, people always talked how serious and unapproachable he seemed to be.

Yet here was the oddest person he had ever met, the greatest person with the biggest heart he’d known thanking him for being him.

Her words were deep, they went all the way inside and took home in his heart.

“There’s no other way I know how to be” his voice was barely a whisper from how moved he felt in that moment. He had tried to be perkier, to be more open but it was always hard and he had resigned himself to be crass and to only have a few acquaintances and few friends.

Arya pulled out a bit from the embrace to look at him, one of her arms making his way to the back of his neck, her delicate fingers playing slightly with the ends of his black and a tad too long hair.

Her grey eyes were pools of molten silver and iron, deep and beautiful like her and he felt drawn. His head lowering slightly as she stood on the tip of her toes.

Their foreheads touched and he closed his eyes, feeling the tip of their noses touching softly before he felt the tip of her fingers from one hand traced in the softest way the side of his face.

“And that is the perfect way to be” Arya whispered and he felt, he could even see, the smile in her voice. It was the first time he could understand completely what Arya meant when she talked about other ways to see things.

He didn’t know, nor cared, how long they stood outside his car, on the hospital’s parking lot, hugging each other. It could’ve been hours, it could’ve being eternal seconds but it came to an end when Arya slowly lowered herself down and pulled away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I have to do some shopping so I’m going to take off”

“I can drop you off”

“No, it is okay” she looked down, her face a bit blushed “A walk would do good for me, clear my head” when she looked up again her eyes held something he couldn’t understand.

“Okay” he didn’t move until Arya took a step back and smiled “You’re going to be late! Go!”

He chuckled as he shook his head to wake himself up “Alright, see you tomorrow”

“Be careful on your way home” arya lifted a finger to point towards the sky “Is going to rain”

He looked up, the sky was clear and blue but he knew now.

“Alright, I’ll steal umbrellas from the shop on my way out”

“Good. Bye, Gendry”

“Bye, Arya” and with that he got inside the car and watched Arya walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> Sorry for taking so long in updating, life has been crazy, weird and much too much.
> 
> Next chapter will most definitely be the last, I split it in half and i'm still working on the second half, crossing fingers it is not that long that i'll have to split it again.
> 
> Hugs to all! Be safe, avoid crowds and wash your hands in this globally sicky days!
> 
> Pssss: You can find me on tumblr as : blue_nebulae [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm late for AxG week but i couldn't finish this on time!
> 
> This was originally a one-shot but it ended up being awfully long, and is still on going, so I decided to divide into multiple chapters. I'm guessing it will be two or three chapters long.
> 
> This story kept popping in my head and I just decided to go with it. Inspired by some personal situations and anecdotes. 
> 
> I'm actually quite proud of this, even when it is not perfect. I have an on going battle with depression and AxGweek, and your fantastic comments and opinions, made me enjoy writing for fun again and let my imagination work. I've really missed that, it is so completely different than just writing copys or work related content.
> 
> So I'm really hoping you like this story and if you do, please, let me know! :)
> 
> PD: You can find me on tumblr as : blue_nebulae [here](https://blue-nebulae.tumblr.com)
> 
> And I'd appreciate if you check out my other hobby, my creative artsy portfolio on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/maco.fotoart/) !


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